LSU reminded of their potential following big win

It’s been quite a fall from grace for the Tigers. From the beginning of the season to now, they went from a top five championship contender to unranked. No one saw that coming.

But with a change at head coach comes a new found energy and a reminder of what they’re capable of.

“Obviously, we didn’t live up to the hype right away,” says junior receiver Malachi Dupre. “We lost another game last week that we’re not proud of.”

Orgeron seems to have not only given LSU a boost, but he also restored a belief in themselves.

“We played our style of football tonight putting up 42 points,” says Dupre. “I feel like it’s just the beginning.”

“All the hype we had at the beginning of the season, top five team, where’s our quarterback, where’s this, I feel like this was our statement game,” says junior defensive tackle Davon Godchaux. “Our first game under Coach O just making a statement of who we are as LSU Tigers.”

And who they are is a smash mouth power football team. That’s the way their roster is built. That’s the way their playbook is built. That’s where their bread and butter will be when all else fails. Coach Orgeron and his new offensive coordinator made a few tweaks, but at the core, this is still a team that makes its money running the ball. The Tigers’ 418 yards rushing and six rushing touchdowns say it all.

Even more impressive was the way they spread the ball around on the ground. Derrius Guice led the way with 163 yards and three touchdowns. Darrel Williams wasn’t far behind him finishing with 130 yards and three scores. Even Nick Brossette got in on the action with 73 yards on five carries.

“It’s just a bond that you build with your position group,” says Guice. “To see every one of them just doing great, you can’t beat that. You don’t see that often. So when all of them are doing great, you’ve just got to love it.”

But as excited as Tiger fans are to see a dominant 42-7 victory, there’s still a lot of work to be done. The schedule only gets tougher from here.

“We aren’t getting a big head,” says Orgeron. “We’re going to stay hungry. We’re going to get better, and we’re going to challenge ourself to get better. There’s going to be bigger and better opponents down the road. We’ll take them one at a time.”

That starts with Florida next week in “The Swamp,” and that’s never an easy one.